The Dismal Science – (Part 1 of 3): Michele Bachmann on Jobs and the Economy.

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  August 22nd at 06:30 PM  | 

James MacDonald of ForeignPolicy.com describes the current Seldon Crisis occurring in Western economies as the end of a seven decade experiment. This seven decade experiment is described by Walter Russell Mead as The Blue Social Model. He talks us through its particulars below. Graduate from high school and you were pretty much guaranteed lifetime employment in a job that gave you a comfortable lower middle | Read More »

The Palin Factor

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 22nd at 11:40 AM  | 

September 3rd is fast approaching and a lot of people are suddenly buzzing that she will declare her candidacy for the Presidency at that time. Karl Rove is convinced. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal thinks she will not run. A lot of Sarah Palin supporters have been telling me she’ll announce that day that she is running and I’m a fool and idiot | Read More »

The candidates Iowa Republicans don’t want

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  August 22nd at 09:30 AM  | 

By request, we have a somewhat unusual poll: We Ask America asked Iowa Republicans which candidate they don’t want as the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012. As is usual this time of year, the poll is skewed by the inclusion of non-candidates. This time, overwhelmingly so.

The Goldwater Talking Point

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 22nd at 04:46 AM  | 

“The greatest lesson to take away now is that the media is going to again fixate on Goldwater from 1964 and Kerry from 2004, and they will probably mostly ignore the most historically relevant election points” The media typically begins any Presidential campaign with comparisons to Harry Truman. The Reagan re-election in 1984 had the comparison. The Bush re-election in 1992 had the comparison. The | Read More »

Where We’ve Been Is Where I Want To Be

By: Aaron Gardner (Diary)  |  August 20th at 10:00 AM  | 

Everything administered as remedy to the public complaint, if it did not produce, was at least followed by, an heightening of the distemper; until, by a variety of experiments, that important country has been brought into her present situation–a situation which I will not miscall, which I dare not name, which I scarcely know how to comprehend in the terms of any description. In light | Read More »

Immigration and Border Security (Part 2 of 3): Mitt Romney

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  August 19th at 02:00 PM  | 

The separate issues of border security and immigration have become entwined as the American economy continues to wane, an illicit drug trade continues to flourish and a vast number of Americans remain unemployed as illegal immigrants take jobs on American soil. This leads to the immigration and border security issues becoming increasingly important and controversial. With President Barack Obama’s decision to shore up his Hispanic | Read More »

Perry shows strength, but Romney’s front running in doubt?

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  August 18th at 08:00 AM  | 

By request I’m taking a look at a new poll of California Republicans by Probolsky Research. It shares problems I’m seeing in many early Presidential polls, but I am surprised at one finding that may be bad news for Mitt Romney.

Why It Is Still Romney’s Race To Lose

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 17th at 12:56 PM  | 

I’m getting a lot of disagreement with my earlier statement that the race is still Mitt Romney’s to lose. Some of it is irrational exuberance from Perry supporters. Some of it is legitimate. Your mileage may vary on my thinking, but I did want to lay it out. I think the first thing to point out is what Sean Trende pointed out at Real Clear | Read More »

Obama’s audacious taxpayer-funded reelection campaign bus tour

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  August 16th at 09:29 AM  | 

Obama thinks we should pay for this reelection campaign bus tour because, in the now infamous words of Press Secretary Carney: He’s the President of the United States. You can see the “context” of Carney’s comment here. The political nature of Obama’s trip so blatant that the biased media wing of the Democrats’ party is not even trying to hide it: The Voice of America | Read More »

Money-Spinners and Mountebanks.

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  August 15th at 10:45 AM  | 

“Not proposing anything bold and not trying to do something to definitively deal with our problems would mean that we’re going to have another year and a half like the last year and a half — and then it’s awfully hard to get re-elected.” Christine Romer (HT: NYT) I’ll fess up. I was totally taken in by Dr. Romer’s resume. I could have sworn she | Read More »

George W. Bush in 1999 vs. Rick Perry in 2011

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 15th at 08:38 AM  | 

Watching Governor Rick Perry’s speech at the Red State Gathering, I was struck by the degree to which conservatism has grown at the highest levels of electoral politics, including presidential elections, over the past decade. Twelve years ago, another Texan, George W. Bush, announced his presidential bid by ushering in a new era of conservatism.  At the time, following the longest Republican exile from the | Read More »

Palin is not going to run

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  August 13th at 04:35 PM  | 

“It’s fair to them to give them an answer here, in short order, so that they can jump on  board with someone else.” – Sarah Palin August 13, 2011 With those words, former Gov. Sarah Palin made it clear to me that she will not run for president in 2012. You don’t tell your supporters “they can jump on board with someone else” if you are | Read More »

Let’s Replace EPA With Employment Protection Agency

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  August 12th at 12:01 PM  | 

When members of Congress return to Washington in September, they must confront the next budget challenge; a Continuing Resolution for FY 2012.  While the top line discretionary spending level has already been agreed upon through the debt ceiling agreement, the specific levels of funding for each department and agency are still up for debate (or closed-door negotiations, in this case).  Unfortunately, instead of prudently analyzing | Read More »

Craig James Talks About the Tea Party and Possible 2012 Senate Campaign

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  August 9th at 10:22 AM  | 

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Elizabeth Blackney are joined by Craig James to discuss American exceptionalism, the rise of the Tea Party and we’ll ask him whether or not he’s running for the U.S. Senate in 2012. We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like | Read More »

Barack Obama’s George Bush Problem

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 9th at 04:46 AM  | 

Barack Obama has a George Bush problem. This is not a W problem, but an H. W. problem. Back in 1991, George H. W. Bush’s approval rating went up to between 89% and 91% in February of that year. He was on a high from winning the Iraq War. The Democrats were confounded and had no real answer to put up as an alternative. There | Read More »